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Well I would say that for most people a home rates a bit higher than fancy computer peripherals or nice cars in priority as well as cost. (obviously not for everyone, I have seen a Corvette parked out in front of a single wide trailer) 500K for a 2 bedroom starter home in SoCal...

Don't get me wrong, I haven't purchased a house either and by the looks of it probably never will be able to...stagnant salary, 60K in school loans, and a collapsing lending industry. I suppose it comes down to some kind of a morality question...Who is at fault the predatory lender or the gullible borrower? Obviously accountability for action is important, and that in some ways implicates the borrower, however if you dig a trap for someone is it their fault for falling in? Are soldiers at fault for not being on point enough to not step on a landmine? If you think so than I would venture to say that opinion is a wild oversimplification that doesn't take into account anything other than the observer.

The Macomb GOP’s plans are another indication of how John McCain’s campaign stands to benefit from the burgeoning number of foreclosures in the state. McCain’s regional headquarters are housed in the office building of foreclosure specialists Trott & Trott. The firm’s founder, David A. Trott, has raised between $100,000 and $250,000 for the Republican nominee.

The Macomb County party’s plans to challenge voters who have defaulted on their house payments is likely to disproportionately affect African-Americans who are overwhelmingly Democratic voters. More than 60 percent of all sub-prime loans — the most likely kind of loan to go into default — were made to African-Americans in Michigan, according to a report issued last year by the state’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth.

Well, a lot of people are saying that all this government intervention makes us closer to a socialist state. Maybe capitalism is fundamentally flawed in itself, and all of these problems were inevitable. You might say, they weren't inevitable, its just a whole lot of incompetent bankers borrowing too much money and a lot of flawed economic concepts and bad governing, but what if all of those things have to happen whenever you have capitalism?

people have posited this for a long long time.

personally i believe it ...its common sense...
and the whole principle of regulation is based on this tenant.
that left to its own devices capitalism will run aground...
a will necessitate a large painful course correction.

America's a mixed grab bag of governing ideas. Cries of "socialism" are just the barking of binary minds.

The idea that the poorer one is, the less responsible for one's actions one becomes, is a rather bad way to govern a society. Pandering like this tends to hurt a group rather than help it, and thus tends to result in widening income gaps. It is only through responsibility, which includes education, and hard work, which includes education, that the poor move up in the world. And it is the lack of same that causes "the other half" to trend downward.

Everybody I know who has a house worked years for it. Some start with small houses then refurbish resell and continue until they are in a "good house." Some just wait a long long time until they are secure enough. My grandparents paid for their house with cash they had accumulated in 30 years of hard work.

People who tell you "you can have it all right now if you vote for me!" are politicians. And if that kind of irresponsible rhetoric gets inacted into law, it is the responsible who end up paying for it, non-rhetorically. And the responsible know this, and they immediately begin figuring out a way not to get caught holding the bag for some Pop Politician's self-glorifying vote-insuring Robin Hood fantasy.

Which again reminds me of that comedian (Pat Paulson?) I read about who ran for mayor of San Francisco in the 60s. His platform was "Anything you want!"

The idea that the poorer one is, the less responsible for one's actions one becomes, is a rather bad way to govern a society. Pandering like this tends to hurt a group rather than help it, and thus tends to result in widening income gaps. It is only through responsibility, which includes education, and hard work, which includes education, that the poor move up in the world. And it is the lack of same that causes "the other half" to trend downward.

I agree, to a certain extent, but also running a society on the blind assumption that everyone has the same opportunities is inviting just as much abuse. I assume what you're talking about in the pandering to the idea that the poor are less responsible is state welfare programs, and really anything that supports poor people off the state in anyway. How is the working class supposed to become educated then if there is no support to do so and the average cost of sending a kid to college costs as much as a house? Never mind the decrepit state of public education in poorer areas. How is this education supposed to happen? The concept that the poor can be, enmass, brought up out of poverty by their own will to not be poor anymore is ridiculous...Who's going to work in a coal mine if they don't have to? Who's going to pick fruit all day if they don't have to? There HAS to be poor people in order for capitalism to work...in order for someone to make money someone has to get fucked

I'm not really trying to be combative here. I'm really just curious as to what the model is in which poor people become responsible, educated, and immune to predatory marketing without the help/pandering from the state.

yeah but i've heard that the country isn't projected to right itself for another decade till we are back in the black.

who knows what to make of these projections though....taken with a grain of salt.

but the theory is sound...that every bubble burst cascades slowly every 2-3 years into an other bubble (dot com- slowly creating an entrepreneurial housing frenzy, etc) and inevitable burst as the investment class
sees these downfalls as opportunities (i.e. cleaning up on foreclosures ) creating a new bubble wich soon bursts...its apparently a cycle that is accelerating and snowballing unchecked.

leading the doomsayers to conclude that a biggy is on its way,
projected to last over a decade....so they say.

I agree, to a certain extent, but also running a society on the blind assumption that everyone has the same opportunities is inviting just as much abuse. I assume what you're talking about in the pandering to the idea that the poor are less responsible is state welfare programs, and really anything that supports poor people off the state in anyway. How is the working class supposed to become educated then if there is no support to do so and the average cost of sending a kid to college costs as much as a house? Never mind the decrepit state of public education in poorer areas. How is this education supposed to happen? The concept that the poor can be, enmass, brought up out of poverty by their own will to not be poor anymore is ridiculous...Who's going to work in a coal mine if they don't have to? Who's going to pick fruit all day if they don't have to? There HAS to be poor people in order for capitalism to work...in order for someone to make money someone has to get fucked

I'm not really trying to be combative here. I'm really just curious as to what the model is in which poor people become responsible, educated, and immune to predatory marketing without the help/pandering from the state.

Cthogua, I don't quite know how to respond to you except by pointing out that millions and millions of people have left poverty through hard work. That includes every one of my relatives who came to the lower east side between 1900 and 1937 and worked godawful jobs that I can't imagine. My great grandfather fell off a skyscraper he was working on and was in a coma for 3 weeks. When he woke up, he moved upstate and started a farm with his own two hands raising 7 children in the process. The values of these people were rock solid and had little to do with their own comfort and everything to do with the future of their family. There are Subcontinent Indians, Koreans and Mexicans who are doing the same thing now in this country. The commonality between them all is a lack of cynicism, a lack of self-destruction, a willingness to sacrifice for the future, a willingness to police their neighborhoods themselves, and a commitment to the future of their families and themselves which includes policing the education of their children themselves. This education is not necessarily for some white collar job.

Self-preciousness, on the other hand, leads to utter narcissism and a belief only in the here and now. Momentary pleasures, pursued diligently day in and day out, result in absolutely nothing in the long term except poverty and self-hatred.

Is wanting to own a home greedy? NO because that's not the argument.
I want a lot of things. I'd love a cintiq, my own art studio, an Acura Integra, a home and the list goes on and on.

Is not doing the math and buying crap you can't afford such as a home greedy? - YES there has to be some accountability. Being poor is not an excuse.

I do not buy the above things because I couldn't afford it, and I don't believe I should take a loan out on stuff I know I can't pay back. But see, that's why I do the math.

The problem with predatory lending is that they convince you that you *can* afford it. I'm one of those, I have a house half in my name in Ohio (left it with my ex fiancee and he's miraculously not bankrupt yet - but close...). We were looking for much cheaper homes and checked out some developers, they sold us on a house that was only affordable because they have a trick of buying down your interest for the first couple years. So the payment they tell you you'll be making is going to go up, and it went up a lot more than they said it would. And not everyone can handle it. Obviously. Now my credit looks awful because I have this house in my name saying i owe on it but my ex pays it all, and if we took my name off it he'd lose it because it looks like he can't afford it, but he's working 2 jobs and eating ramen to keep it. Hooray, cutthroat capitalism!

The problem with predatory lending is that they convince you that you *can* afford it. I'm one of those, I have a house half in my name in Ohio (left it with my ex fiancee and he's miraculously not bankrupt yet - but close...). We were looking for much cheaper homes and checked out some developers, they sold us on a house that was only affordable because they have a trick of buying down your interest for the first couple years. So the payment they tell you you'll be making is going to go up, and it went up a lot more than they said it would. And not everyone can handle it. Obviously. Now my credit looks awful because I have this house in my name saying i owe on it but my ex pays it all, and if we took my name off it he'd lose it because it looks like he can't afford it, but he's working 2 jobs and eating ramen to keep it. Hooray, cutthroat capitalism!

So you're saying you went into an ARM? I'm sorry but I was told long ago that's a no no. Doesn't matter if some lender could convince me otherwise. A lot of sellers try to get me to buy stuff and convince me I can get it if I do such and such. As a buyer it's for me to make that decision, and keep in mind they're doing their job with their best interests at heart.

I'd just like to thank you all for educating me in this delicate matter. As a highschooler in northern europe, I don't know much about economy - especially not USA's.

Now I know a bit more.

Another thing that also came to mind.. and now we're talking conspiracy theories.. anyone seen Zeitgeist the movie? if not, you should. Google is your friend.

Anyhow, in the movie they present a conspiracy revolving the crash in the 30's .. Now, I'm toying with the idea of the same thing happening again - conspiracy wise.. I don't think it'll be as harsh as it was then. But I do like the idea that the same masterminds behind the 30's are behind this.. in the end it'll lead to one single government ruling the entire planet with iron hand

but probably it's all bullshit. To quote the Joker - "People don't panic when things go 'according to plan'. If I tell the press that a gang-banger will get shot, or a bus of soldiers will get blown up, nobody panics. Because it's all part of the plan."